


Don't Forget Me

by dancinluv



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 02:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2293175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancinluv/pseuds/dancinluv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumpelstiltskin decides to choose his own fate for loosing the woman he loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Gold finishes writing a letter he is leaving for belle. His hand is shaking, clinching the pen tightly in his grip. Sweat beading around his forehead, his breathing is shallow. Nerves jumping around in his stomach, sadness flooding his heart, his spirt, his soul. His writing ceases for a second, he closes his eyes, a tear slowly trails down his cheek bone. He picks up where he left off. He completes his last sentence, then places the pen down on his writing table and puts the letter in an envelope.

As Gold steps out of the shop closing the door behind him, he gives it one last look, then walks away, making his way over to the library. He slips the envelope under the library door. He goes to his car, starts it up, then drives away from town. His destination is not far, and all too familiar.

"It will all come to an end soon, soon." he mutters to himself, as he is driving. His hand grips the stirring wheel tight enough he can feel his muscles tensing up. His face expression shows a look of despair. He keeps muttering to himself along the way reasoning with himself, trying to make sense out of what he was about to do. He quickly glances in the rear view mirror, capturing his image, disgusted with himself. He brings his view back to the road, he was close. Finally, he's there, what will be his final stop, the end to his story, there was no turning back now.

He drives up to the town line. The line that separates his reality from another reality. He stops the car, takes the key out of the ignition, sitting in his seat staring at what will be a new beginning for him. He takes deep breaths, his hands slowly releases the stirring wheel and falls into his lap. He sits there for twenty seconds staring at that yellow line painted across the concrete. His eyes look down to his hand, he slides his ring off his finger, and places it on the passenger seat. As he is keeping his gaze on the yellow line, he opens the car door, gets out and shuts it, not breaking eye contact.

 

 

Belle walks over to the library, not as cheerful as she usually is, but instead carries a pain in her heart. The night before keeps replaying over and over again in her mind. The argument, the tears, everything stemming from finding out about Rumple proposing to belle with a fake dagger, and using the real one to kill Zelena with. She puts the key in the lock to open the door to the library, after opening the door she finds an envelop sitting on the floor with her name on it. She squats down to pick it up, recognizing the hand writing. She opens the envelope and pulls out the letter. She closes the door behind her as she begins to read.

 

 " _**My darling belle, I am writing thi**_ s _**letter to you to send you my dearest sincere apology, I am so sorry belle for not being open and honest about the dagger, about going against what you had asked me not to do, I had to end her belle. Oh sweetheart, I wish you could understand., but know this, I meant everything I said in my proposal and vows to you. You mean the world to me. You are my heart. I know I have caused you a lot of pain, which I am truly sorry for. I think you are past forgiveness, and know I have lost your trust. I am sorry for not being able to be the man you wish for me to be. I have lost two people in my life that really meant a lot to me**_ , _**you and my son bae. His death had a huge impact on me. Zelena deserved what she had coming for her. You have no idea what she put me through, and avenging my son's death was enough, it was enough for me to feel content until I saw how much pain and heartache I brought you last night when you had discovered the truth about the dagger. I don't want that in your life. You deserve better belle, you really do. I love you so much I am willing to let you go, and live your life free of darkness. The darkness I carry inside of me will never go away until someone takes it from me by ending my means. My soul will never be set free until then. If you can never forgive me belle, I won't blame you. You have put up with so much on my my end, and last night was your breaking point. I saw it in on your face. I have decided to remove myself from your life and give you a better life, without me. I no longer wish to be that dark cloud hovering over you.**_ _**Please forgive all that I have done. My last wish is to hurt you my beautiful wife, so it's best this way. I am leaving storybrooke for good. Just know that I truly and always will love you. By the time you do find me, I will be a new man.**_

 

_**Love Rumpel "** _

__

__

After reading, belle instantly dropped the letter and ran out of the library. She had to find him fast, before it was too late. She had an idea where to find him, hoping he wasn't actually there. She hurries over to the charmings, praying Emma was at the apartment. She knocks impatiently on their door. Snow opens it with baby Neal in her arms.

"Belle, hey, what brings you here?'

" Hi, sorry to bother you, but is Emma here?" she says out of breath.

" Um..yea, let me get her for you. Is everything alright?" she can see a worried, scared expression on Belle's face.

"No, -"

Emma walks up to the door after overhearing Belle, "Hey belle what's up?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, please I need  your help." she says in a desperate tone.

"What's wrong" Emma affectionately touches belles shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"It's Rumpel, I think he is about to do something drastic. Can you take me to the town line. Please." she pleads.

" Uh ...sure, just let me grab my car keys."

"Belle, what do you think he's going to do?" snow inquired.

"I don't know but he left me a letter and I think he means to.....not sure but maybe cross the town line" her eyes water up. She covers her mouth with her hands, trying to maintain her composure in front of snow.

Snow puts her hand on belle's shoulders "Oh belle, don't worry, please don't cry. I don't think the infamous Rumpelstiltskin would do anything that extreme. "

"Maybe he wouldn't." shaking her head at the thought.

"Why would he leave you a letter like that? Did something happen between you two?"

"Well yes -" Before belle could continue Emma runs up to the door while putting her arm in the other sleeve of her jacket.

She dangles her keys in the air " Ok got em, lets go"  rushing past snow, out the door.

"Emma be careful, and belle, don't worry,,,,everything will be fine." giving belle a reassuring smile.

"Thank you" smiling back at snow.

Emma and Belle hurry to her car.

 

Gold hesitantly walks up to the town line and stops inches in front of it. "I am so sorry belle." He takes one last look back at the road that leads into the town of storybrooke. "I can never be the man that you need me to be" he turns his attention back to the line, "no matter how hard I try, I will still be the same belle. The pain,,,the pain of loosing my son. I wish you could understand,,,and now I lost you. It's too much, it must all come to an end."

He steps forward over the line, and it was done. No magic to save him, no loved one to save him, it was just him and him alone. He stands as still as a statue, a blank expression on his face.

Emma and belle approach near the town line. "There,,there's his car. Oh,,oh, I see him!" belle points to where she sees him standing "NO!" she gasps and covers her mouth in horror at the sight she saw before her. Belles heart dropped to the pit of her stomach to see her husband on the other side of the town line, standing there dumbfounded.

As soon as Emma stops the car, belle hurries out, running up to Rumpelstiltskin. Emma follows not too far behind in shock herself.

"Rumpel!!" belle calls out to him trying to get his attention, he doesn't look at her but looks around confused instead.

"Belle wait! be careful not to cross the town line!" Emma shouts after her

Belle stops right at the tip of the line, " Rumpel, its me, belle"

He turns his attention over to belle, "I'm sorry, May I ask how I got here?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 He stands there, disoriented, waiting for answers. Belle and Emma look at each other at a loss, not sure what to tell him, both still in awe to see him in this state.

"You don't remember? Rumpel, do you remember me?"belle asks softly,  hoping that just her face alone would trigger any type of memory of her.

"No I can't say that I do." his eyes look away to think for a moment to see if he can place her face but his mind comes up blank. He tries to remember the last thing he even did, that lead him to this location.

"Rumpelstiltskin, do you know even who you are?" Emma cautiously takes a step forward.

He starts getting flustered "Yes,  I am a man, who is in gods Know where, not even sure how I got here, asking a simple question that neither one of you has answered,,,and stop calling me that. My name is _not_ Rumpelstiltskin. Why would I ever have such a ridiculous name as that."

Belle and Emma both look at each other.

"What?!" he shouts back, wondering what's up

"You better come with us. Well explain everything to you over a nice cup of coffee,or cocoa, or whatever type of drink you prefer, once we get back into town." Emma shoots a forced smile, and signals him to follow her to her car.

"How do I know I can trust the two of you?" he asks warily.

"Do you have a choice? Besides, how often do two nice looking women offer to buy you a drink"  Emma throws him a wink turning around, heading to her car.

He mutters under his breath, "No, I suppose I don't have a choice." he crosses back over the line, following Emma and Belle to the yellow volts wagon.

Belle starts heading to the car with her head down, walking slowly, speechless, deeply downcast from seeing him under his condition. She kept thinking back at the letter and what was written. She did understand the pain he must of been going through with his sons death and everything thing else that has occurred ; with Zelena, his father but did he have to go to this extreme?  Why couldn't he have fought for their love, not given up on himself, fought to be strong for  her and his grand son, instead of taking it to this level. She is sure this is definitely not what Baelfire would have wanted for him and would be cursing at him for doing so. The more she thought about it, the more it angered her. As she walks pass Rumpels car, something in the car catches her attention. She sees a ring sitting on the passenger seat. Belle opens the door, leans over the drivers seat to grab the ring off of the passenger seat. After closing the door, she holds it up in front of her eyes, studying it,,it was his wedding ring. A tear almost formed in her eye but she held it back. Swallowing hard, trying not to break down,  she balled her fist with the ring inside, and continued to Emma's car.

Rumpel is still frustrated, not satisfied he didn't get the answer to his question " So blondie, what is your name?"

"It's Emma, but you can call Miss Swan" still having her back to him, rolling her eyes.

"OK, Emma," ignoring her request of the name she prefers to be called "You still have'nt answered my question, how in the hell did I get here? "

Emma turns around in mid walk, looking at him annoyed, "Once we get back into town you can ask me anything you'd like, and all your questions will be answered..." she turns back around opening the car door," okay?"

"Fine" Not happy about her response, he reaches the back seat door, swings it open, and gets in.

Still in a unhappy mood, Belle walks up to the car, opens the door and gets in.

Emma starts the car and begins to head to town. While in the car, an idea pops in belles head. She wasn't sure if it will work or not but it was worth giving it a try.

Belle looks back at rumpel with a gleam of hopefulness "Rumpel-I mean Mrrr....what should we call you?"

Laughing at the thought, "Well definitely not Rumpelstiltskin. I can't quite remember what my name is but for now you can call me Alex, I feel as if that's what my name should be."

Belle and Emma give each other an odd look , both saying simultaneously "Alex?"

Belle turns to look back at him , "Okay Alex, Can you do me a small favor and hold this-my ring for a second."

He looks at her like she's crazy, "Why?" shrugging his shoulders.

She forces her lips to form a pleasing smile, trying not to lose her patience "Please, would you mind?" holding the ring out in front of him.

Emma quickly glances in the rear view mirror at Rumpel.

"I have a hard time saying no to a pretty lady" smirking, he takes the ring from her hand.

Belle keeps staring at him with buoyant eyes , waiting to see what will happen.

"Is there something else you needed uh....what was your name again?"

"Belle. So, how are you feeling, Alex?"

Shrugging his shoulders, "I feel fine.... Are you okay? Be-lle ? "

Interrupts him before he could finish her name, "Yes belle." she lets out a huge sigh of disappointment that nothing had changed.

"Why do you ask"

"No reason" she says bleakly, "May I have my ring back please" she holds out her hand. He gives her the ring. "Thank you" she turns back around in her seat.

"So Emma, how much further is this town?" he inquires.

Emma looks at him in the rear view mirror, "Not much further." hating the fact he calls her Emma instead of Miss Swan.

He stays quiet for the rest of the trip, along with belle and Emma. They finally arrive in storybrooke. Rumpel looks around through the window curiously at the quaint town as they pull up next to the curb. Emma parks in front of Granny's diner, she figured that be the perfect place to have their discussion. They get out of the car, belle walking over to the door to Granny's diner, Emma not too far behind, Rumpel looking around, taking in the view of the area he is in.

Emma opens the door to the diner, " Well, are you coming?" she asks Rumpel, who is just standing there in astonishment.

"Yes" he heads to the open door emma was holding for him to the diner.

They all step inside, Emma finds a booth for them to sit at.  Belle sits down at the far inner corner of the booth by the window, Emma sits right next to her, and Rumpel sits across from them.  A blonde waitress walks up to there table, she has baby blue eyes, a voluptuous body, she was around belles age, maybe a little older.

"How are you folks doing today?" the waitress asks

"Just fine" Emma says in pretense.

"Great! So what can I get for you guys?" pulls her notepad out from her apron and pulls out a pencil from the front of her bra, ready to write down their order.

Emma mutters to belle, "Well that's classy" She gives her attention back to the waitress."Three cups of coffee please"

Rumpel opens the menu, briefly browsing over the selection inside "I'll have....the lasagne"

Belles eyes fly over to him, wide open,"Rumpel, I mean Alex, why don't you try a hamburger." remembering how Rumpel despises Granny's lasagne, and how he first introduced her to hamburgers on one of their dates.

"No I'm good with the lasagne" he says nonchalantly, winking at the waitress.

Emma saw his action and quickly glances at belle, seeing if she caught what he did too. Judging by the sore expression on her face, she knew. The waitress gives Rumpel a huge smile in return. She writes down his order and places the note pad back in her apron.

"Okay, I'll be right back with your coffees." as she is walking back to the kitchen to put in the order, Rumpel is checking out her ass.

Emma notices, "Eh-hem" clearing her throat, trying to get his attention.

Belle catches on as well, she looks away, unsettled, after catching him ogling the waitresses rare end. She has to keep reminding herself this is not her Rumpel, this is not the same man she fell in love with, the man that she married but it still bothered her something terrible in heart to see him act in a different manner.Even though she was still angry about the dagger incident too, she still loves him but wasn't happy with what he has done.

Rumpel gives his attention back to Emma, acting as if he didn't just undress the waitress with his eyes.

"So, to answer your question earlier, which is going to be hard to do, what I am about to tell you you are going to have a hard time believing. Trust me, I know, speaking from experience" Emma looks at him straight in his eyes.

"Go ahead, I'm listening" Rumple leans forward a little, putting his elbows on the table with his arms crossed.

Belle intervenes before Emma could continue " Emma, I'm not feeling too well. I think I need to go and rest for a bit."

"Yeah of course, is there anything I can do?" she asks softly.

"No....I jus-just need to rest." belle tries to give her an assuring smile but can quite force it on her lips.

Emma gets up to let Belle out of the booth. Rumpel just stares at the two of them, not sure what to make out of this situation. He leans back in his seat, letting out a loud sigh, turning his head to the window.

"I'll call later to check in on you."

Belle nods, "Okay, thanks Emma"

Rumpel swings his head back over to Belle "Feel better" he says cordially.

Belle just glares at him for a second and then walks away. Rumpel watches her as she leaving and then turns his attention back to Emma."So, I guess it's just us"

"Yep, I guess so" drumming her fingers on the table.

"I have a funny feeling your friend doesn't like me very much. She hardly said a word to me as soon as we sat down."

" Well, it's complicated"

"Complicated?" her looks at her puzzled. 

The waitress comes to their table with their coffees. "Alright, here you go. Three cups of coffees." She sets each coffee down in front of them. "Does anyone need cream or sugar?"

"No, this is fine thanks" emma responds abruptly.

"Okay, well if you guys need anything else my name is Goldie." she says in a bubbly tone.

"Thank you Goldie" Rumpel says giving her another wink while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Your welcome" Goldie responds back flirtatiously, " Oh! and your lasagne will be ready shortly."

"Thank you"

Emma just rolls her eyes at the both of them.

"Sure thing!" She winks at him before heading over to another table to take their order.

Emma understood why belle all of a sudden felt ill and wanted to leave, it was hard for her to see the man she knew and love be a certain way with another woman, treating Belle like a complete stranger, as if their love had never existed at all. In a way though, he really didn't know Belle, this new person that he has become has no recollection of her. All he is left with is lost memories that can't be found. Belle is a complete stranger to him, as well as everyone else in town that his old self once knew. Emma really couldn't be mad at him for that, but she was mad at the fact he erased himself, why do this to Belle and Henry! She couldn't understand why though, why resort to destroying who he once was and wiping the memories of the people he loves out of his mind. She needed to see the letter he had written to Belle, hoping Belle didn't impulsively throw it out.

Rumpel takes a another sip of his coffee, says as he puts it down "Now, you owe me two answers."

"Two?"

"Yes, you still haven't told me how I ended up on the road, in the middle of nowhere and now, I would like to know what caused your friend to leave so soon. You said it's complicated and I am pretty sure I have something to do with this... _complication_...judging by the sour face she gave me before she took off."

Emma quickly grabs her coffee and takes a sip,not sure how she is going to have to explain everything to him, she puts the mug down and takes a deep breath "Okay, so to answer your first question, you were someone else. Your name was-is Rumpelstiltskin. You also go by Mr. Gold, you own a pawn shop not too far from here...and Belle is your wife....and the reason why you don't remember any of this is because you went pass the border of this town. Anyone who leaves storybrooke forgets who they are and the people they know."

"Like amnesia"

"Yes, exactly"

He laughs, " Do you know how crazy that sounds? A person loosing their memory by leaving the town itself." he shakes his head "Sweetheart, the only way I can get amnesia is if I had some type of trauma to my head" leans forward, points to his head as he says "which I know I do not have, My mind is perfectly fine and I know who I am." He leans back again, folds his arms, chuckling.

Emma rolls her eyes and sighs. "I know you are not going to believe me and I know it sounds crazy, but that's the truth. I can do my best to prove it to you. " then she stops for a second before she finishes, her eyes scanning around, a thought occurred to her "wait a minute, wait a minute....why didn't I think of this before." she mutters under her breath. 

He sits up, unfolding his arms "Come again?" trying to make out what she's mumbling.

"I know who can cure you. The blue fairy!." she says enthusiastically "Now trying to convince her to will be another issue." she mutters to herself.

"Who?"

"Oh um...she also goes by mother superior. But she knows how to make a great serum that will have you back to yourself again."

"So a nun,...who also is a fairy.... can cure me?"

"Yes, look I know it sounds crazy, but she can really help you. Please, come with me to see her, she might have a way to get your memories back."

"Look, sweetheart, first, my name is not Rumpelstiltskin or Mr. Gold, it's Alex...even though Mr. Gold has a nice ring to it but I still prefer Alex. Second, I am not going anywhere else with you...you sound a little kooky yourself. Third, this is the real world sweetheart, not some fairytale land where fairies float around. Maybe you should get checked out..." he points to the temple on the side of his head"...up here."

Emma has had it with him and slams her hands down on the table, making it a shake a little "The next time you call me sweetheart, there will be trauma to your face!" she sees him holding back a snicker, not taking her seriously "You know what, forget this! I'm done here!" she gets up, throws her money down on the table to pay for the coffees. Says as she is about to leave "Oh and do me a favor Alex!" she emphasizes his name "the next time you see belle, don't go near her. She has dealt with enough pain from you!" Emma storms out the diner. Rumpel chuckles to himself and continues sipping his coffee.

Goldie comes up to the table with a plate of lasagne and sets it down in front of him "Here you go, Granny's special lasagne. Anything else I can get you hon."

"Yes, your telephone number would be nice."

"Sure thing!" Goldie takes her note pad out of her apron and writes down her number for him. She rips the paper off of the pad and hands it to him "Anything else!"

"No, that's it. Thank you sweetheart." he folds the paper in half and puts it in his jacket pocket.

Goldie walks away leaving Rumpel to enjoy his lasagne, he takes a bite "Ugh.." he twists up his face "This is horrible." he says to himself, spitting it back out on his plate.

 

 


End file.
